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I beg you, Jack, not to rely on the power of the Boroughmongers
in this case. Anything that is to be done with
halters, gags, dungeons, bayonets, powder, or ball,
they can do a great deal at; but they are not conjurers;
they are not wizards. They cannot prevent a man
from dropping bank-notes in the dark; and they cannot
make people believe in the goodness of that which
they must know to be bad. If they could hold
a sword to every man’s breast, they might indeed
do something; but short of this, nothing that they
can do would be of any avail. However, the truth
is that they, in such case, will have no sword at
all. An army is a powerful weapon; but an army
must be paid. Soldiers have been called machines;
but they are eating and drinking machines. With
good food and drink they will go far and do much; but
without them, they will not stir an inch. And
in such a case whence is to come the money to pay
them? In short, Jack, the Boroughmongers would
drop down dead, like men in an apoplexy, and you would,
as soon as things got to rights, have your bread and
beer and meat and everything in abundance.

The Boroughmongers possess no means of preventing
the complete success of the dropping plan. If
they do, they ought to thank me for giving them a
warning of their danger; and for telling them that
if they do prevent the success of such a plan, they
are the cleverest fellows in this world.

I now, Jack, take my leave of you, hoping that you
will not be coaxed out of your money, and assuring
you that I am your friend,

WM. COBBETT.

VII.—­’THE LETTERS OF MALACHI MALAGROWTHER’

BY SIR WALTER SCOTT

(To what has been said in the Introduction respecting
the Letters of Malachi Malagrowther_ it is only
necessary to add that their immediate cause was a
Bill due to the very commercial crisis which indirectly
ruined Scott himself, and introduced in the spring
of 1826 for stopping the note circulation of private
banks altogether, while limiting that of the Bank
of England to notes of L5 and upwards. The scheme,
which was to extend to the whole of Great Britain,
was from the first unpopular in Scotland, and Scott
plunged into the fray. The letters excited or
coincided with such violent opposition throughout
the country that the Bill was limited to England only.
As Scott was a strong Tory, his friends in the Government,
especially Lord Melville and Croker (who was officially
employed to answer ’Malachi’), were rather
sore at his action. He defended himself in some
spirited private letters, which will be found in Lockhart._)